When you are hurt in an accident, you’re scared and angry. You’re also facing mounting medical bills, potential loss of your ability to earn income, and possibly even the loss of companionship, relationships and quality of life. You deserve compensation for these damages, but what happens when the insurance company refuses to pay out?
Insurers use a broad variety of tactics to avoid paying out on claims to deserving victims. It’s sad, but it’s a fact of life. Explore the various insurance company non-payment tactics they use to get out of claims, and learn how a qualified personal injury attorney can help.
INSURANCE COMPANY NON-PAYMENT TACTICS
Insurance companies aren’t in the business of paying out huge sums of money. That may seem counterintuitive, but it’s true. These are for-profit companies, and while they provide a much-needed service, they also don’t make a profit by handing out money. That’s why they’ll go to great lengths to try to avoid paying or to get you to sign off on as low a payout as possible.
DENIAL OF LIABILITY
In order to collect damages for a case, you’ll need to prove liability on the other party. This means demonstrating they were negligent in some way—acting in a fashion that was so irresponsible that any reasonable person would agree it was the reason you got hurt. Insurance companies will look for any reason they can find to deny their clients’ liability.
They do this in a number of ways. They might try to prove that there was no duty of care for their client to violate. They might claim that other factors made the accident unavoidable. They could even claim that you were the one at fault and their client was the victim.
REDUCING CLAIM VALUE
Another common tactic they’ll employ is to claim your injury isn’t as bad as you claim. These companies have even been known to go so far as to claim you’re not injured at all. They do this by securing alternate medical opinions, scouring your doctor’s records, and looking for things like prior injuries they can claim were just agitated (something for which you can’t sue).
STRONG ARM AND BULLYING
Some insurers even resort to threats, bullying and strong arm tactics. Naturally, they don’t threaten you with harm or injury—that would be illegal. They do, however, try to pressure you into signing away your rights on lowball offers. They can threaten to take you to court and “promise” that you won’t see a thing if your case goes to trial. They might even use official-sounding terms and official-looking documents to back up their threats.
CALLING A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY
The best way to fight back against insurers that are dead-set against paying you the money you deserve is to seek the services of an experienced and qualified personal injury attorney. The right lawyer will have experience standing up to insurance company bullies and fighting for your rights. They can get you the full compensation you deserve for your medical bills, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, lost wages and more. If you’re in this situation, call the Florida injury lawyers at Koberlein Law Offices and get a free consultation today.
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